Can Christians Drink Alcohol?

The Lord will make all Christians priests and kings. Revelation 1:6 “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen”. Those who were priests and kings could not drink.

Leviticus 10:9 “Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations”.  

Proverbs 31:4 “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink”

What is the difference between wine and strong drink?

Wine in the Bible may refer to fermented (alcoholic) grape juice or unfermented (non-alcoholic) grape juice. Unfermented grape juice is fine as we see Paul encouraging Timothy to drink for his stomach. 1 Timothy 5:23 “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities”. 

We know this can’t be alcoholic wine because alcoholic wine will not help your stomach. Strong drink can be any other alcoholic drink. There are many types of alcoholic drinks which are not made from grapes, such as beer, sake etc. All these a Christian must not drink. The Bible may refer to grape juice as new wine or wine. Isa 65:8 “Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster…” There’s no time for grapes which come straight from the cluster to ferment”. Predominantly, the Bible will use the term new wine for unfermented grape juice. 

But we aren’t kings or priests right now so can’t we drink some alcohol?

The Lord says Isaiah 5:22 “Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink”.

What if we drink some alcohol but don’t get drunk from it?

1. At what level of alcohol consumption would one determine they are drunk? That line is constantly shifting throughout the day or week depending on multiple factors. Furthermore, why drink alcohol if you’re not looking to get drunk? Why not drink something else? If you’re drinking to refresh yourself then there are a lot of non-alcoholic options. If you’re drinking to get drunk, you definitely have disobeyed the Lord. However anything in-between means you are just drinking because it has alcohol in it. Why would you purposely drink alcohol to not get drunk or feel any effect?

2. There’s a scripture which says not to even look upon alcoholic drink. Proverbs 23:31 “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright”. Wine (grape juice) unfermented is good. When wine ferments it undergoes the Marangoni effect (see this video for a visual). This makes the wine appear to have “tears” around the glass. Hence the wine appears to be moving itself. The only way for wine to do this is through fermentation as normal grape juice will not do this. This means the difference between when you can look on the wine and when you can’t is the process of fermentation. When the wine becomes alcoholic the Lord says to not even look upon it. This is hyperbolic language to say do not drink it.

What should we not be deceived by?

Proverbs 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise”.

Didn’t Jesus drink wine?

Remember wine can mean unfermented grape juice, instead of assuming Jesus went completely against the Old Testament, can we instead see evidence that he drank new wine? 

Matthew 26:29 “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom”. Jesus makes it clear he drank of the “fruit of the vine” meaning there’s not enough time for the fruit to ferment and become alcoholic. Hence when we see that Jesus turned water into wine, we shouldn’t assume it was alcoholic. When we have evidence to see what kind of wine Jesus drank, we shouldn’t assume another definition, to justify something we want to do. 

Wasn’t Jesus a winebibber? 

Luke 7:34 “The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye [the pharisees] say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!” Would Jesus contradict the law and the testimony? What do the scriptures say.

Proverbs 23:20 “Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh”.  

Jesus was just repeating what the pharisees said about him. It was a false accusation. The Pharisees said Jesus was a sabbath breaking blasphemer. Are they now correct? Or is the accusation baseless? If Jesus did drink like they accused him off why couldn’t they respond to him with an accusation when Jesus asked this, John 8:46 “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?” If Jesus turned water into alcoholic wine, couldn’t the pharisees just bring that up against him and say you’re not perfect? For drinking alcoholic wine went against the law and the prophets.They couldn’t name a sin so they just made more things up. 

The Jews also said Jesus was a Samaritan and had a devil. John 8:48 “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” Was Jesus a Samaritan or Jew? 

Finally, was Jesus gluttonous? Luke 4:2 “Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered”. I believe the point is clear Jesus wasn’t a winebibber. Most likely one of the spies saw Jesus drink grape juice a few times and told the pharisees he drinks fermented wine all the time. Then the rumour spread. 

Didn’t the disciples drink wine? 

Acts 2:13 “Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine”. For context the disciples started preaching to more than three thousand people on the day of pentecost. This wasn’t an expected event for the people, imagine someone who starts preaching on the bus, aeroplane or in the street. Whilst it’s fine, it would seem odd to others. Some may mock at the preacher and say “he’s probably drunk”. Peter goes on to say Acts 2:15 “For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day”. Hence Peter makes it clear they haven’t been drinking. Similar to Jesus being called a winebibber it was just another false accusation.  

I thought new wine meant unfermented grape juice? 

In the New Testament the greek word that translates to new wine [gleukos] in Acts 2:13 is used only once. It’s specific to a type of fermented wine cultivated from a greek ceremony. 

“it is our custom upon the sixth day to sacrifice to our good Genius and taste our new wine [gleukos], after the zephyr [wind] has done blowing; for that wind makes wine ferment more than any other”. - Plutarch, Quaestiones Convivales book 3.7.1 

We can infer therefore that it was most likely a Hellenised Jew who said they were full of “new wine [gleukos]” 

Why did God allow the children of Israel to buy wine or strong drink? 

Deuteronomy 14:26 "And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth…” The wine was to be poured out for an offering not consumed. Numbers 15:5 “And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb”. 

Numbers 28:7 “And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering. 8 And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meat offering of the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord". This wine would be poured out on the lamb to be burnt up.  

Who should you give strong drink and wine to? 

Proverbs 31:6 “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts”. Are you ready to perish? Do you have a heavy heart? The Bible says 1Th 5:16 “Rejoice evermore”. The only ones that drink are the hopeless proverbs 31:7 “Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. Some may twist this to say God is therefore saying we can drink when we’re down. No this manner of speaking from God applies to those he’s given up on. Essentially, like when a dad says “do what you want”. Let’s provide another example of this Ezekiel 20:39 “As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols”. He said this to them after clearly stating what he wanted from them. We can clearly see he’s given up on them because they won’t change. Likewise, when the Lord says “let him drink and forget his poverty” This is after he’s clearly stated his position on drinking a few chapters earlier Proverbs 23:31 “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright”. Hence you know he’s not stating this as a prescription to drink. For the Lord says woe to those people. Isaiah 5:11 “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them”! We must be, Romans 12:12 “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer”. 

What will the Lord do to those that drink fermented wine and strong drink? 

Isaiah 28:5 “In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, 6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. 7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment”. Why will so many err through strong drink? Because they deceived themselves to say it’s okay. To be out of the way, means they’ve lost their way, they’re not on the straight and narrow path. 

Is alcohol dangerous? 

It is well known that alcohol causes disease: “Alcoholic hepatitis. Continued drinking can lead to chronic liver inflammation, known as alcoholic hepatitis. Symptomatic hepatitis may include some jaundice and an enlarged liver. Fatty Liver. Alcoholic fatty liver disease is caused by a buildup of fat in the liver. Relatively mild fatty liver (or hepatic steatosis) may be asymptomatic and can develop even with moderate patterns of alcohol consumption, though heavy drinking increases the likelihood. It is possible to stop or reverse this condition with continued abstinence from alcohol”. - alcohol.org 

If we drink alcohol we destroy our body. What will God do to those who destroy their bodies? 

1 Corinthians 3:17  “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are”. 

The priests couldn’t enter God’s temple in the Old Testament if they drank otherwise they would be killed. If we drink, we are essentially dousing the temple in alcohol. To that person will God destroy. 

I pray you’ve been blessed by this study to see the dangers in drinking alcohol both physically and spiritually, we long to see you eternally saved in the kingdom. Maranatha!